Somewhere amidst the organized chaos of a Virginia Military Institute game, Keydet head coach Duggar Baucom finds peace.

Funny considering what unfolds in front of him: basketball on speed. Forget your father’s Princeton offense. This brand of basketball consists of fast breaks, defensive traps and 3-pointers hurled basket-bound before the shot clock has ticked below 30. This is the new face of VMI Keydet basketball.

‘I’ve heard people refer to us and say ‘Coach Baucom presents Basketball Circus,” Baucom said, chuckling at the moniker.

The up-tempo style Baucom created has turned VMI into one of the most exciting teams in college basketball. The Keydets lead the nation in scoring with an average of 102.6 points per game, 14.5 points ahead of second place North Carolina. VMI’s statistics, and the leadership and determination of Baucom, have breathed life into a program whose last winning season came in 1998.

‘We try to shoot the ball before we turn it over,’ Baucom said. ‘Our style of play basically throws shooting percentage out the window.

‘Defensively, our goal is just that we don’t want teams to be able to do what they do the other 28 games they play.’

Baucom accomplishes these goals by running a transition, 3-point chucking offense and relentless, trapping defense. He subs in and out frequently. While Baucom freely admits his defensive style results in a good deal of uncontested lay-ups, it also forces its fair share of turnovers: 28.3 per game.

Baucom had not always coached a system as loose or fast-paced as this one: a system that routinely results in 50 attempted 3-pointers and 30 steals in a single game. In fact, Baucom created this gameplan mostly out of necessity.

Just months ago, as preseason practice was set to start, Baucom learned his starting point guard and big man had been kicked off the team for violating school rules. Already 10 practices into the preseason schedule, Baucom decided to drastically change his strategy to compensate for his new lack of Division I talent.

The guidelines became an immediate hit with the Keydet players.

‘(This style) is a thousand times better than slowing it down and using the shot clock,’ said VMI junior forward Reggie Williams, who’s second in the nation in scoring, averaging 28.6 points per game. ‘I mean sometimes we’ve scored and four seconds have run off the shot clock. I mean teams get tired.’

In many ways this system and its creation is a reflection of Baucom, who has lived a life full of high risks and unpredictable setbacks.

Baucom suffers from a rare heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; the same condition that killed former Loyola Marymount star Hank Gathers during a game in 1990. The 46-year-old Baucom has had a pacemaker since he was 30. On Jan. 3, 2006, the coach was expected to have a fairly routine surgery to replace the device. He was supposed to be released from the hospital within a day or so.

During surgery, doctors experienced complications removing the original device. From January to August, Baucom spent 46 days in five hospitals and underwent five separate heart surgeries. Baucom missed 12 games, and when he did return to the bench for select home games, it was merely as a spectator. Not exactly a dream first season for Baucom, who began coaching high school basketball at age 30 because his heart condition forced him to retire as a North Carolina state trooper.

The Keydets finished just 7-20 last season.

Knowing all that the Charlotte, N.C., native has endured over the last year, it’s no wonder he finds a strange solace in his team’s helter-skelter style.

‘I’m a lot more at peace when I go into a game now,’ Baucom said. ‘My team’s heart rate gets up a lot higher than mine.’

The method to Baucom’s basketball madness is evident in the numbers. Besides scoring, his team leads the nation in assists, attempted 3-pointers and steals. Yet VMI has struggled to transition into a Big South elite. The Keydets are 11-15 on the season and 4-6 in conference play. Baucom is quick to point out the personnel handicaps that VMI must deal with. The team is essentially playing without a point guard and lacks a true low post presence.

‘I feel like this style has kept us in games,’ Baucom said, ‘I feel like if we played a traditional style, we wouldn’t have 10 wins right now.’

Baucom is also eager to note that his team has remained competitive even in a majority of their losses. Seven of the Keydets’ losses have come by five points or less. VMI’s unique style at the very least takes its more talented opponents out of their comfort zones.

‘You really have to change your game,’ said Winthrop head coach Gregg Marshall, whose team managed to outlast the Keydets twice this year, most recently winning 109-96 on Jan. 31.

‘First you have to beat their trap,’ Marshall said. ‘Then you have to score, because if you don’t score enough you’re just going to have to keep dealing with their trap all game.’

Baucom plans on keeping his new system next season, confident that with another year of fine-tuning and an influx of talent his new style can lead to increased success for VMI. Baucom’s system and no doubt his personal story have given the Keydet fan base a reason to be excited.

‘We actually have recruits calling us now,’ Baucom said. ‘That’s really never happened here previously.’

Published on February 8, 2007 at 12:00 pm